Episode 29: Alberta is in serious pre-election mode

We are in pre-election mode in this episode as Dave and Ryan discuss the health care and education curriculum debate between the New Democratic Party and United Conservative Party, the unsurprising recent Trans Mountain Pipeline report from the National Energy Board, and the latest from the SNC-Lavalin/Justin Trudeau/Jody Wilson-Raybould fiasco.

We always love to feedback from our listeners, so let us know what you think of this episode and leave a review where you download. You can also comment on the blog, Facebook or Twitter or send us an email at podcast@daveberta.ca.

And a huge thanks to our producer, Adam Rozenhart, who keeps us on track and makes each episode of the Daveberta Podcast sound so great.

5 thoughts on “Episode 29: Alberta is in serious pre-election mode”

I would like to point out to Ryan that heart surgery is only available in 2 hospitals. They have dedicated ORs for that. They work the maximum hours they can. There aren’t enough surgeons or specific trained staff to increase the amount of surgeries done. How would the UCP change that? This province needs more beds, more hospitals and therefore more staff at all levels if you want to reduce wait times in any area. A huge proportion of staff are boomers and will retire in the next 5 years. You can’t provide the numbers needed to replace them with the numbers coming out of school these days. Immigration has helped a little bit to fill the need but not enough. Rural areas already can’t recruit staff so please explain how you think the UCP is going to help the situation. Nothing Jason Kenney has said about healthcare gives me any confidence in his ability to improve things.

Further to my previous email. Ralph Klein closed the Holy Cross hospital which had just spent 45 million dollars updating and increasing their Open Heart ORs. It used to be the third hospital in the province that did heart surgeries. Go figure that wait times have increased.

I suspect Mr. Carritt and most work-vest wearing Canadians support my view on immigration – Against illegal immigration: for legal, measured, meritocratic, and diverse immigration.

Dave and Adam might want to revisit comments made about the United We Roll convoy and Glen Carritt.

Podcast comments included: “ . . . Leader of the convoy who bemoaned the fact that we really didn’t want these people … you have to take a stand . . . “. (He did.) And “. . . Glen Carritt … this guy cannot get out of his own way …. Canada’s borders need to be controlled by Canada and its citizens not the United Nations . . .” (I’d like to see the link to this comment.). Ryan’s “this is how Donald Trump got elected . . . you can see how it happened …. “ observation may be more accurate. (I didn’t get those quotes 100% correct, let me know if I’ve misconstrued your statements gentlemen.)

It appears Glen Carritt first referred to his project as a yellow vest convoy. The press jumped all over that and then correctly reported he really is not an anti – immigration hate spewing racist. Where did the misinformation come from? My guess is social media took off with an idea and the United We Roll convoy is now regarded as a somewhat half baked, red neck effort. I also suspect some of the less articulate convoy members may not have clearly stated their opinion on immigration vs. illegal immigration. Note to Mr. Carritt: next time get a press secretary.

I direct you to these comments made by Mr. Carritt in a Global News interview linked below: “Canadian government needs to control immigration . . . We don’t support extremists, we don’t support anti-immigration, we don’t support racism, hate … 100% unequivocally do not support it.”. And this quote from a CBC article linked below: “Carritt originally referred to his convoy as a “yellow vest convoy” but renamed it United We Roll after it too was linked to people spewing hateful rhetoric against Muslims and immigrants.”

Just happened upon your podcast. Would love to hear more in depth discussion of different views, the fundamental differences referred to such as the involvement of profit motive in healthcare and the pros and cons. An in depth discussion of all election issues would be appreciated.
On a personal note, the last 4 years have brought much needed stability in healthcare as compared to the last 30 years. That can’t be overstated. David’s point about lurching from crisis to crisis was spot on. Built up infrastructure problems have been costly and keeping a lid on spending increases and dealing with pent up demand is what has increased wait times not inefficiency. Historically underfunded parts of the system such as seniors care and mental health remain problematic but without high oil prices or new revenue streams small improvements are all that were possible.

The opinions expressed on this blog represent my own and not those of my employer or any organization I may be affiliated with.

In addition, my thoughts and opinions change from time to time. I consider this a necessary consequence of having an open mind. This blog is intended to provide a semi-permanent point in time snapshot and manifestation of the various ideas running around my brain, and as such any thoughts and opinions expressed within out-of-date posts may not the same, nor even similar, to those I may hold today.